Former Black Panther leader Elaine Brown makes a speech during a protest against an Oakland Planning Commission meeting for the West Oakland Specific Plan held at Oakland City Hall June 11, 2014 in Oakland, Calif. The protest and march, organized by community members, Causa Justa and others, was in response to the plan, which protesters and community members feel will cause mass gentrification of West Oakland. less

Former Black Panther leader Elaine Brown makes a speech during a protest against an Oakland Planning Commission meeting for the West Oakland Specific Plan held at Oakland City Hall June 11, 2014 in Oakland, ... more

Oakland officials kept largely mum Friday after learning that the 72-year-old former head of the Black Panther Party is accusing a city councilwoman of assaulting her in an incident under police investigation that could cost the city thousands of dollars.

The extraordinary accusation, revealed Friday in The Chronicle, comes from former Panther Elaine Brown, who says Councilwoman Desley Brooks — chair of the council’s public safety committee — physically attacked her on Oct. 30 during a discussion on affordable housing at a popular downtown soul food restaurant. Brown, who runs a county jobs program, said in a civil complaint that she suffered “physical and emotional harm” from the attack. She is asking the city to pay her at least $10,000 and has filed a police report.

But neither the mayor nor most city council members were willing to comment Friday on the surprising allegations.

Oakland police, who said they are interviewing witnesses, aren’t releasing the police report.

Shying away from issue

The normally outspoken elected officials appear to be shying away from the issue, which raises the question of whether they want to avoid a confrontation with Brooks. During 13 years in office, the councilwoman has earned a reputation for marshaling allies who use intimidating tactics — jeering during public meetings and insinuating racism, for example — to browbeat those she disagrees with.

Mayor Libby Schaaf, who has butted heads with Brooks, did not return calls Friday.

Two years ago, a civil grand jury concluded that Brooks hired a contractor for a teen center without collecting bids and authorized $19,000 in payments to a guitar store without city permission. The report also found that she hired staff and paid them from her own budget instead of going through the city's human resources procedures, which include background checks and fingerprinting.

Incident in private setting

A city auditor’s report also cited the unauthorized financing.

But the council never censured Brooks.

Former Council President Pat Kernighan said Brooks escaped censure partly because of “a lack of political will on the part of the council.”

The current controversy over Brooks is different and shouldn’t fall on the council to resolve, she said.

“I think it is important to distinguish between the two different forms of misconduct,” Kernighan said. “Previously, it was unethical and unlawful actions by a public official acting in her official capacity. The council had a responsibility to address that.”

But if the recent incident is true, it’s “a matter of Desley’s out-of-control temper in a private setting, which is not something the City Council has a responsibility to police,” she said.

Meanwhile, employees at Everett and Jones Barbeque, where the fight allegedly took place, declined to comment about what happened on Oct. 30, and the owner did not return calls.